Montana

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT MONTANA - PAGE 2

The Sports Xchange Montana fires football coach and AD The University of Montana fired athletic director Jim O'Day and head football coach Robin Pflugrad on Thursday, three months after the Grizzlies had reached the semifinals of the NCAA Division I FCS playoffs. University president Royce Engstrom said in a statement that the university "has determined not to renew the contracts (of O'Day and Pflugrad). We thank Jim and Robin for their dedicated service to the university, and we wish them the best.

HOUSTON, June 2 (Reuters) - CHS Inc has begun an overhaul of its 59,600 barrel per day (bpd) Laurel, Montana, refinery, the Billings Gazette newspaper reported on Sunday. The goal of the project is to boost diesel production at the refinery, according to the newspaper report. (Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

NEW YORK, March 3 (Reuters) - BNSF Railway Co on Monday reported delays in its northern region following an avalanche in the Glacier National Park in Montana. "At this time we do not have an estimated time of opening," BNSF said in a statement published on its website. A spokesman at the U.S. Federal Rail Administration, a division of the Department of Transportation, confirmed that there were rail outages caused by the avalanche. The FRA spokesman said BNSF's service could be up and running by the end of day. The avalanche swept down a mountainside into Missoula, Montana, on Friday.

Actor Noah Bean has portrayed a police officer, a shoe clerk and a doctor, but the role of cowboy is the one he most identifies with and indulges in when he leaves his New York City apartment for his favorite vacation destination: Big Sky, Mont. A graduate of Boston University, the 30-year-old Connecticut native has spent time backpacking through Europe. But though roles on shows such as "Lipstick Jungle," "Medium" and "Damages" allow him to travel in luxury, Bean still prefers to travel light.

A 60-year-old Chicago woman on her way to visit family in Seattle was one of two people killed Sunday morning in a bus crash on an icy interstate highway in western Montana. Fatimah Amatullah, of the 7200 block of S. South Shore Drive in the South Shore neighborhood on the South Side, was one of four people who were pinned underneath the bus when it came to rest after it skidded off the road after hitting black ice on Int. Hwy. 90, according to Jason Johnson, a public information officer for the Missoula County sheriff's office.

(Reuters) - The fatal mauling of a Montana animal trainer last year could have been prevented if captive grizzly bears had been properly secured while he cleaned their cage, federal regulators said on Tuesday. Benjamin Cloutier was cleaning the enclosure of two grizzlies in November when the deadly mauling occurred at Animals of Montana, a business in Bozeman that trains captive-bred animals for films, commercials and public appearances. Animals of Montana faces up to $9,000 in fines proposed by the Labor Department for workplace safety violations that included subjecting employees to potential attacks from bears and other dangerous animals, according to a citation and penalty notice released on Tuesday by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

By Laura Zuckerman Dec 17 (Reuters) - The Montana Supreme Court on Monday denied a request by same-sex couples to order the state to provide them the same protections and benefits as married couples but the gay couples will continue their legal challenge. Six same-sex couples in 2010 sued Montana in state District Court over laws they said deprived them of equal protection and other rights guaranteed by the state constitution. The couples asked the court to force the state legislature to pass a set of laws that would ensure gay couples were treated the same as married couples in such areas as death benefits and bereavement leave from work.

Health Care Service Corp., the Chicago-based parent company of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, said Monday it intends to acquire a sister Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Montana. The nonprofit Montana insurer is the state's largest health plan, insuring about 272,000 members -- more than a quarter of the state's total population. Its network includes all Montana hospitals and 2,800 health care providers. If approved by regulators, it would join Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico already under the HCSC banner.

By Laura Zuckerman Feb 12 (Reuters) - You survived December's much-heralded Mayan apocalypse, but now fear the "zombie apocalypse" and its deadly attacks? Don't worry. It was a fake, the artwork of hackers in Montana. Hackers infiltrated the emergency broadcast system of local station KRTV in Great Falls, Montana, a CBS affiliate, and issued the zombie alert, the station said on Tuesday. Viewers were warned of a so-called zombie apocalypse and advised not to tangle with the monstrous creatures, the station said.